Gail's Incoherent Mumblings

Still alive!

2009-12-23T18:14:38Z

I just realized I haven't posted in forever and forever.

Let's see - I'm married! I'm beyond happy.

Kevin never managed to write down his special vows (we did "nice things to say to each other" and then the standard vows), so he whispered super sweet things to me instead. :)

This picture perfectly sums up how I imagined my wedding. The photographer got this as I was walking down the path to my family's old homestead. It was perfect.

You can see the homestead and everyone waiting here:

and here we all are - I didn't even know James hugged his Dad at the end of our first kiss (as a married couple).

If you are the type of person who enjoys wedding pictures, you can see them all here:

http://www.polyscenicphotography.com/keller/

does anyone even read over here anymore?

2009-07-29T03:37:53Z

Hee.

So, SPSS, my old employer of 8.5 years, is being bought by IBM. For 50 dollars a share, cash.

It's very odd. It doesn't help that when I left about 2.5 years ago, I had to exercise my 500 stock options. Which I did, and made about 3k, after taxes.

If I had stayed with the comapny, and exercised those today, I'd have made 15k. Ouch . ON the other hand, I'm much much happier at my new employer.

I do still have 16 shares of SPSS from the employee stock purchase program. So, I'll make 800, before taxes, on that. Most of that stock was bought relatively cheap, I think. I'll have to figure out the cost basis blahblahblah I suppose.

Tomatoes in the pots

2009-06-03T14:48:28Z

Tomatoes in the pots, originally uploaded by knittergail.

Check out how big my tomatoes are getting . According to the tomato forum people, I did it all wrong (My cages aren't big enough, and I used mostly topsoil instead of potting soil), but screw them, I have blossoms!

I'm also getting baby jalepenos, too.

Gail's "New" Sewing Machine

2009-05-19T14:51:43Z

Gail's "New" Sewing Machine, originally uploaded by knittergail.

I bought this 1960s Singer 328k sewing machine off ebay. After being serviced, it sews like a dream. The only problem is that nothing on it is automatic, and I keep threading it wrong.

My newest problem is that my spools of mettler thread "bounce" on the spool pin, screwing with my tension. If I lightly hold the spool down, it sews perfectly. How evil is that?

Rocket Nest!

2009-05-16T03:30:24Z

Rocket made, originally uploaded by knittergail.

Rocket decided that nice clean duvet + ikea sewing chair = Awesome Rocket Nest! Sadly, the rocket nest is now dismantled, cause I made the bed.

oh noes!

2009-05-11T22:25:16Z

CIMG0805, originally uploaded by knittergail.

A shark is going to eat Ari!

Blizzard ari

2009-04-20T16:19:19Z

Blizzard ari, originally uploaded by knittergail.

Ari was getting ready to go out in the blizzard! Momma and Daddy were almost out of diapers, so they were going to walk to the store. (The car refused to go in the snow.)

Ari decided that it was far too blizzardy for him and they turned back. :)

Wedding Band Decisions

2009-04-06T18:38:22Z

So, Aimee offered the wedding band from her first marriage for me to use. My mom actually bought the band, and its very nice - 14k white gold, a half carat worth of nice diamonds, size 6.

Aimee and I had decided to do the funniest cleansing ceremony in the history of the world (It would involve margaritas, candles and wigs), but Kevin still felt all weird about it.

So, he talked to our jeweler, and he said that its possible he could remake the ring, which would remove the weirdness, and be very reasonable. Hopefully. He has to see the ring first.

What I would really like is a ring like this:

If remaking the ring isn't cost effective, then I think a simple band like this would be nice:

Ikea bags

2009-04-05T03:23:02Z

Are used to hold cats
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Gail's Slouchy Bag

2009-04-03T21:07:15Z

Gail's Slouchy Bag, originally uploaded by knittergail.

This is the newest slouchy bag. The main body is made up of part of a remnant from Denver Fabrics (the physical store, not the website). It's upholstery weight. the lining and handles are from Joann's, and are decorator weight. I'm still not quite feeling the handles in relation to the main body of the bag - the picture is a little misleading - the lighter areas aren't actually blue - they are more of a silvery beige.

Columbine, the book

2009-04-01T15:24:00Z

I've read Dave Cullen's blog, in various forms, for years. So, I've followed him while he wrote his book, Columbine. I pre-ordered it, and read it in 3 days. It is an amazing book.

I honestly didn't expect what I got. I knew it'd be a good book, but I didn't think it'd be so sweeping. It's not just about the Columbine murders and debunking myths, its about how Columbine fits into the community, and how that community was largely split in how it dealt with the aftermath.

I highly, highly recommend the book to anyone. I literally started crying in Midway Airport at one point in the book.

(apparently, trailers are all the new thing)

Picture Day!

2009-03-23T19:24:10Z

Okay, pretty much every day is picture day. But these are pictures taken with my camera, not my blackberry, so they are, well, not taken with my blackberry!

First, my engagement ring came home!

Kevin totally surprised me. First, he said he was going to make a payment on the ring, and perhaps James and I would like to go hang out somewhere else so James wouldn't be bored in the store. I found this slightly odd since James usually likes jewelry stores. But, I sort of just shrugged it off. Then, he was like "oh, I'll just run over there now, while James finishes his homework", and I was like "oh, okay, that makes sense".

While he was gone, James finished his homework, and asked if he could ride his bike. I was like "Yes, be back in an hour". Well, about 10 minutes later, he comes running in, saying "Gail, I found this outside, but I don't know what to do with it!" I turn around, and he has a box open, and its MY RING!

It turns out that the old downstairs tenants paid their part of the gas bill (600 dollars worth!), he got a rebate on an insurance deductible, and our newest gas bill was only 32 dollars! So he could pay it all off this week.

Next, I sewed Aimee a purse! She picked out the fabric and pattern at her local quilting shop. The pattern came from Slouchy Bags by Cindy Taylor Oats. The outside fabric I believe is one of Robert Kaufman's Asian designs, but its older, and I can't find it online. The inside came from Timeless Treasures, and is also older. I had a few false starts, but I'm really pleased with the results.

It was the most complicated thing I've made so far - it has an underlining, lots of interfacing, I had to do bias strips for the binding and the handles. However, it seems like in the sewing world, everyone is more than happy to write up tutorials and pictures and diagrams, for free! So it wasn't too hard to figure out.

Yes, its that time again

2009-03-20T20:51:16Z

Should Gail do an advanced degree!

So, I was looking at the MASTER OF PUBLIC HEALTH IN PUBLIC HEALTH INFORMATICS (hee, I copied and pasted it). The University of Illinois has an online program. It looks amazingly cool and interesting, and I meet the requirements, academic wise. (I'd probably have to retake my GRE's - those only last 5 years, right?) Except it keeps saying its meant for people in public health? What if I'd like to be in public health, or just have a better stats background for my current job?

Help, advice plz. :)

St patty's day

2009-03-17T20:26:14Z

Green water fountain!
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wow!

2009-03-16T21:06:33Z

I just looked, and FHA mortgage limits in my area for a single family home is $410,000! Good lord! For some reason, I though it was around 300k, but that was from a few years ago.

Houses oh Houses

2009-03-16T20:26:44Z

I'll start out saying that we aren't really planning on buying anything for a few years. Kevin hopes in 2, I'm thinking more like 3. It looks like we'll need to save up at least 3.5% down and get our credit scores up to 640. The 640 credit score is pretty close these days, I believe. The 3.5% isn't, but will be.

Hopefully by then the housing market will have finished plummeting, and isn't already working its way back up. As of today, most of the houses we would be interested in are in the 325k-375k. I'm not sure where our magic number is, but we we're even a little "eh" at 350k.

Anyways, last night after a frustrating "Why did we agree to put the gas bill for the house in our name? WHYYYY" crab fest, I was looking on Craigslist to see what other apartments like ours would rent for. Mainly for leverage at renewal time to get the landlord to put the gas in his name. The old downstairs tenants owe us 600 dollars - they say they are sending a check tomorrow. We will see. We've been killed by gas bills this winter. While its great our budget is such that we can handle it, I don't want to outlay that kind of cash again. Plus, I want a decrease in our rent. We're paying 1350 a month, and that's above market, even given our location.

So, after all that background, Craigslist led to me searching Redfin, and I found this house:

http://www.redfin.com/IL/Naperville/566-Dorset-Ct-60540/home/18049000#

It's around where Kevin's house was, but not too close as to be creepy. It's in the right area for the schools Kevin likes. It's convenient for the train. Mainly, it'd be exactly what we'd probably like. Today, 359k might be okay - there isn't a ton for sale in that area, and there are a lot of teardowns, so there isn't a lot of affordablish stuff there.

However, at 359k, they will lose money. They owe the bank more than that - that's why its called a short sale. Here's the listing price history:

Mar 04, 2009 Price Changed $349,000
Feb 24, 2009 Price Changed $359,900
Feb 17, 2009 Price Changed $369,900
Jan 12, 2009 Price Changed $379,900
Nov 22, 2008 Price Changed $389,900
Oct 30, 2008 Relisted
Oct 10, 2008 Price Changed $399,900
Oct 04, 2008 Price Changed $424,900
Sep 23, 2008 Listed $439,900

I think we can all agree 439k is crazy. The basement is painted BLACK. The kitchen, while perfectly nice, isn't THAT nice. The lot is the smallest on that court, and the house layout looks a bit odd. Oh, and they have the ugliest lino/tile in the kitchen.

I then looked at the property records, and they bought the house for 205k in 1996. That's right - they mortgaged the house up ABOVE 359k. That's 154,000 in 13 years, at least. I didn't pay to get their mortgage records, so I don't know how much they owe to the bank.

Ari is a very smart boy!

2009-03-13T17:47:22Z

He sent me this email this morning! Gumby the cat helped.

Auntie Gail,

Gumby is helping me with the email. I have to complain about Mommy and Daddy's morning routine. It is not good fun snuggles like when you are here. Last night momma and I spent the night on the couch together and I learned how to nurse while she slept. Then i turned into a fussbudget around 5 am just in time for Dad to take care of me. Then they tricked me, Mom took me back and nursered me. I feel asleep really deep then the next thing i know i wake up in my crib, upstairs, ALONE and I was stinky.

It is all very bad, plus look how bad Daddy is at taking pics?

He enclosed two pictures.

First, the one of us having our morning snuggles.

And this one Aimee and Mark took when they were getting a photo for their announcements. It's from two days ago - look at all his dark dark hair now!

Ari and Wine

2009-03-10T20:54:31Z

Aimee was so happy to see me that she handed me Ari, and then a glass of wine, within 3 minutes of me showing up. :) It was awesome. I love Ari so much it hurts.

These were my special morning snuggles - Aimee let me take care of Ari a ton. Monday morning, she fed Ari, had him say good bye to his Daddy (who had to go to work), and handed him off to me. We had a good few hours of loves while Aimee caught up on some sleep.

Ari is a frog!

2009-03-09T18:07:25Z

Also, auntie gail got to pick out the outfit and thought he needed a pillow.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Poor sleepy ari

2009-03-09T15:10:55Z

He is very sleepy.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Ari and doggy daddy

2009-03-08T18:55:57Z

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Me and ari

2009-03-08T17:49:32Z

We're snuggle bugs.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Ari is soooo cool.

2009-03-06T18:52:21Z

He is also a moo cow, but he'll have to grow into his outfit first. :) (I knitted that, btw)

Sleepy ari

2009-03-05T01:35:30Z

YAaaaaaawn sleepy baby
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Look, something not baby related!

2009-03-04T22:26:27Z

The Big Read (http://www.neabigread.org/) said that, on average, adults have only read six books on this list. So ... copy this list, remove my yeses and nos, and add your comments (favourable or otherwise) about the ones you have read. Don't forget to include a total.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen - Yes
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien – Oh good lord no.
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte - I read a comic book version, does that count?
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling – Parts of it.
5. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee - Yes, of course.
6 The Bible – Bits and pieces.
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte - No
8 1984 - George Orwell - Yes
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman - No
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens - No
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott - Yes and WHY oh WHY was whats her face so dumb about Teddy?
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy – I believe I've started it.
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller – Yes
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare – Big chunks, but certainly not all.
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier - Yes
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien - No
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks - I don't think so
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger - No
19 The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger - Yes, and this is an awesome book!
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot- No
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell - Yes - over and over and over again
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald - Yes
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens- No
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy - No
25 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams - Of course, geez.
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh - No
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky - No
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll - No
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame - No
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy - No
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens - No
33 The Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis - Yes
34 Emma - Jane Austen - Yes
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen - Yes
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - Yes
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini - Yes - very very very very good book.
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres- No
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden - Yes
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne – No
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell -Yes
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown - No
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez - No
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving - No
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins - No
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery - Yes)
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy - No
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood - Yes, over and over again
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding - Yes
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan - No
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel - No
52 Dune - Frank Herbert- No, but my mom did.
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons - No
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen - No
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth - No
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon - No
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens - No
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley - Yes
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon - Yes
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez - No
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck – Yes
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov - Yes
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt - No
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold – Yes
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas - No
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac - No
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy - No
68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding - Yes
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie - No
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville - No
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens - No
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker - Yes
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett - Yes
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson - No
75 Ulysses - James Joyce - No
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath - Yes
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome - No
78 Germinal - Emile Zola - No
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray - No
80 Possession - AS Byatt- Yes
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens - No
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell - No
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker - Yes
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro - No
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert - No
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry - No
87 Charlotte's Web - EB White - Yes and it still makes me cry.
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom - No
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - No
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton – Ho
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad - No
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupe – Yes
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks - No
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams - Yes
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole - No
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute - No
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas - No
98 Hamlet – Shakespeare – No
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl - No
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo - No

34 out of 100 isn't too bad!